Save the Forest

Made by Luzdy Gonzalez, Rowen Stansberry, Asia Hickman, and Claire Park.

At the quiet edge of a broad temperate forest stands a small town built where the grasslands meet the treeline. The forest has always towered above it, deep, ancient, and full of secrets. Most of the townspeople see the woods as a resource, a place for firewood, herbs, game, and clean water. A few still repeat old tales of spirits and guardians, but those stories are mostly told to children to keep them from wandering too far.

Hidden beneath layers of moss, tangled roots, and soft green shadows, a Forest Spirit awakens. It is the unseen keeper of the forest, watching over every stream, tree, and creature. For generations it has observed the people nearby grow from small, fearful settlers into a thriving community. The forest gave freely at first: fallen branches for fires, berries and mushrooms for food, clear rivers for drinking.

But times are changing. Winters have become longer, more families have settled in the area, and resources feel increasingly scarce. The town has begun looking to the forest with greater need than ever, cutting deeper for timber, hunting more frequently, clearing patches of land for new fields, and now discussing ideas like water channels to support machinery and farming.

The forest spirit can no longer stay silent. Not out of rage, out of fear. Not for itself, but for everything that lives in the green.